Cowan, Luongo lift Canucks over Lightning

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- Jeff Cowan has come out
of the blue to star for the Vancouver Canucks.

Cowan scored two goals as the Canucks posted their third
straight victory, 5-1, over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Roberto Luongo made 16 saves while Daniel Sedin and defenseman
Kevin Bieksa each had a goal and an assist for Vancouver, which
is 9-1-1 in its last 11 games.

"What a great effort by the whole team tonight," Cowan said.
"We had everyone contributing. Luongo played great for us again
tonight. We played hard and we got the two points."

Cowan, who has five goals in his last three games after scoring
none in his first 44 contests, gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead 8:44
into the first period when he redirected Brendan Morrison's pass
from the top of the crease past goaltender Johan Holmqvist.

The left wing tallied again with 56 seconds left in the third
period when he took a pass from Jan Bulis and snapped the puck
past Holmqvist for a 5-1 cushion.

Cowan, claimed off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings on
December 30, had two goals in a 4-3 shootout win over the
Minnesota Wild on Sunday.

"It's been a great fit," he said. "Being placed on waivers, it
was a tough time not knowing what's gonna happen. But it was
nice to be picked up by Vancouver."

Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier scored his league-leading 43rd
goal at 6:51 of the second period, when he partially fanned on a
shot from the right faceoff circle that fluttered past Luongo.

Lecavalier has 89 points, tying him with teammate Martin St.
Louis for second in league scoring.

The Lightning, 7-3-2 in their last 12 games, were held to a
season-low 17 shots.

"It was amazing we were able to keep them to such a low total,"
Luongo said. "We did a great job defensively against their top
guys. All in all, it was a really easy night."

Luongo's victory was his 38th this season, tying the franchise
record set by Kirk McLean in the 1991-92 campaign.

Tampa Bay entered 10-2-1 in its last 13 road contests, but were
no match for the Canucks.

"There's no excuses here, they outplayed us," Tampa Bay coach
John Tortorella said. "They played hard defensively. I think
we had chances to take shots and we didn't take them. When we
did have some chances to create offense, they played well
defensively.

"The Bottom line is, they were the better team tonight. We
don't have too much time to think about it. We've got to get on
a plane and get ready to play another one."